logo
Previous Thread
Next Thread
Print Thread
#905889 01/20/16 01:59 AM
Joined: May 2010
Posts: 11,915
Likes: 30
BellaOnline Editor
Renaissance Human
OP Online Content
BellaOnline Editor
Renaissance Human
Joined: May 2010
Posts: 11,915
Likes: 30
Through the vision and dedication of Edward Pickering Harvard College had one of the world's top observatories. Pickering had a secret weapon: a team of women computers. One of them was Mina Fleming who began her employment as a housekeeper and ended it as an astronomer of international repute.

Williamina Fleming

Last edited by Mona - Astronomy; 01/15/18 01:51 AM.
Sponsored Post Advertisement
Joined: May 2010
Posts: 11,915
Likes: 30
BellaOnline Editor
Renaissance Human
OP Online Content
BellaOnline Editor
Renaissance Human
Joined: May 2010
Posts: 11,915
Likes: 30
In her journal she wrote, Mina Fleming wrote:

My home life is necessarily different from that of the officers of the University since all housekeeping cares rest on me, in addition to those of providing the means to meet their expenses. My son Edward, now a junior in the Mass. Inst. of Technology, knows little or nothing of the value of money and therefore has the idea that everything should be forthcoming on demand.

Joined: Apr 2002
Posts: 7,113
Likes: 52
A
Chimpanzee
Online Content
Chimpanzee
A
Joined: Apr 2002
Posts: 7,113
Likes: 52
Mona, some things never change! smile

Joined: May 2010
Posts: 11,915
Likes: 30
BellaOnline Editor
Renaissance Human
OP Online Content
BellaOnline Editor
Renaissance Human
Joined: May 2010
Posts: 11,915
Likes: 30
Even with years of experience, long hours at the observatory, a highly responsible job and international recognition, Fleming's salary was much less than that of male assistants.

Quote:
[The Director] seems to think that no work is too much or too hard for me, no matter what the responsibility or how long the hours. But let me raise the question of salary and
I am immediately told that I receive an excellent salary as women’s salaries stand.

Sometimes I feel tempted to give up and let him try some one else, or some of the men to do my work, in order to have him find out what he is getting for $1,500 a year from me, compared with $2,500 from some of the other assistants. Does he ever think that I have a home to keep and a family to take care of as well as then men?

But I suppose a woman has no claim to such comforts. And this is considered an enlightened age!


The disparity is still there, but is usually not quite such a . . . not so much a gap, I suppose, as a chasm! But still, over a hundred years on there shouldn't be a gap at all.

Joined: Apr 2002
Posts: 7,113
Likes: 52
A
Chimpanzee
Online Content
Chimpanzee
A
Joined: Apr 2002
Posts: 7,113
Likes: 52
It reminds me of a Tree Grows In Brooklyn. She was told never to discuss her salary with others; she wasn't paid as much as the other employees doing the same job and the employer didn't want her to know that she was underpaid.

Joined: May 2010
Posts: 11,915
Likes: 30
BellaOnline Editor
Renaissance Human
OP Online Content
BellaOnline Editor
Renaissance Human
Joined: May 2010
Posts: 11,915
Likes: 30
It looks like towering flames, the filaments of NGC 6979. It's a supernova remnant, sometimes identified as Pickering's Triangle.
Edward Pickering was the director of the observatory where it was discovered. However it's also known as Fleming's Triangular Wisp after Williamina Fleming who actually discovered it.

The supernova remnant is part of the Veil Nebula in Cygnus (the Swan). The light from the supernova probably reached Earth over 5000 years ago. Since then the
Quote:
interstellar shock waves [have plowed] through space sweeping up and exciting interstellar material. The glowing filaments are really more like long ripples in a sheet seen almost edge on, remarkably well separated into the glow of ionized hydrogen atoms shown in red and oxygen in blue hues.

Image Credit & Copyright: Sara Wager
Commentary credit: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)


Moderated by  Mona - Astronomy 

Link Copied to Clipboard
Brand New Posts
Make It Sew Easier
by Cheryl - Sewing Editor - 03/27/24 04:34 PM
2024 - on this day in the past ...
by Mona - Astronomy - 03/27/24 01:31 PM
Planner Template Kit - Weekly Layout Template
by Digital Art and Animation - 03/26/24 07:39 PM
Planner Template Kit - Yearly Layout Template
by Digital Art and Animation - 03/26/24 07:37 PM
How to Use Digital Planner Template Kit
by Digital Art and Animation - 03/26/24 07:36 PM
Review - 20 Illustrator Color tips Helen Bradley
by Digital Art and Animation - 03/26/24 07:32 PM
March Equinox to June Solstice
by Mona - Astronomy - 03/26/24 12:27 PM
Hobotrader unleashes never seen opportunity with i
by Jamal molla - 03/26/24 11:55 AM
Psalm for the day
by Angie - 03/25/24 09:05 AM
Genealogy, Sort of
by Angie - 03/24/24 05:39 PM
Sponsor
Safety
We take forum safety very seriously here at BellaOnline. Please be sure to read through our Forum Guidelines. Let us know if you have any questions or comments!
Privacy
This forum uses cookies to ensure smooth navigation from page to page of a thread. If you choose to register and provide your email, that email is solely used to get your password to you and updates on any topics you choose to watch. Nothing else. Ask with any questions!


| About BellaOnline | Privacy Policy | Advertising | Become an Editor |
Website copyright © 2022 Minerva WebWorks LLC. All rights reserved.


Powered by UBB.threads™ PHP Forum Software 7.7.5